1. The Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relate to protecting data. More particularly, embodiments of the invention relate to systems and methods for backing up and/or restoring virtual machines.
2. The Relevant Technology
One of the simplest ways to protect data is to simply copy the data to a backup device. Computing systems today, however, often have very large amounts of data and the simple act of copying the data is inadequate for many reasons. First, copying the data in this manner can consume significant computing resources. Second, the original data may be unavailable for an extended period of time. As a result, more sophisticated methods for protecting data are needed.
The problems associated with protecting data are more complicated as the sophistication of the underlying computer environment increases. Clusters are an example of a sophisticated computing environment. A cluster typically includes various computing devices that work together and that can, in some examples, be viewed as a single system. Each computer or physical device in the cluster can be referred to as a node and each node can be configured to operate in various configurations. Some nodes, for example, may be configured to host one or more virtual machines.
One of the problems with clusters (e.g., such as may be found in datacenters) is that the ability to restore a node or a virtual machine is complicated. Conventionally, the data protection software must be installed on the node that is the subject of the backup/restore operation. For this reason, as the number of nodes in a cluster gets large, the backup/restore operations can become very cumbersome and complicated. The data protection processes are further complicated when considering that the node can be configured in various ways, including as a host for one or more virtual machines. The complexity increases when considering that clusters often use shared volumes.